My late parents loved Yam Rice and I am glad that I’d acquired the liking for this dish. In my family, we almost never had yam rice at home so I didn’t know how to make yam rice until my mother-in-law came visit us a few years ago. She taught me how to make this easy one-pot dish and now, I whip it up whenever I am lazy to cook.

In Penang, yam rice is often sold by Yong Tau Foo hawkers and it’s the very reason why I fell in love with it because I am a huge fan of Yong Tau Foo. Imagine a bowl or two of aromatic yam rice to go with the different varieties of fish balls, fish paste stuffed inside tofu, chili, okra, and more; it’s simply delectable.Here is my yam rice recipe. If you have an electric rice cooker at home, you will be able to make yam rice rather painlessly. I also made some Yong Tau Foo which I will share the recipe with you soon. My friend Noobcook had just made her version of yam rice with Chinese BBQ pork (char siu), check it out.

Ok… now ihave to go and hunt for Yam :-) It’s there any particular type of yam… because in the fresh market I found also the small Yam and the usual Large Yam…also they came in 2 colors! I saw once a Purple/Magenta Yam too. Hmm … I think better stick to the usual Light one…don’t want to see my whole Yam Rice turned Purple/Magenta :-D

Would love to get your cookbook too but how? Am now back in Penang :-( When will you be back then? How to order… Hmm unless your family in Penang willing to stock some copies?

Pixen – just get regular type of yam, not the purple or orange one. Hehe. Oohhh, you are back in Penang, that’s so great. I hope to be back home end of this year, don’t worry about the book, it will come out only in Sept/Oct 2011. When it’s out, I am sure you can get it in Penang. :)

Yes, yes, I would love to invite Penang bloggers to be a part of my blog, that’s a good idea. How about inviting you guys to guest post on Rasa Malaysia and to further introduce our delicious Penang food? No need to cook, can eat out but just introduce the dishes. :)

Your pictures always make ordinary dishes turn into culinary delights. It’s fun to read! I’m not the biggest fan of yams, but I do like yam rice. It’s a fun combination when I’m in the mood, and not overpowering :)

Also, love the website redesign! We just did one too, which was fun :) Let me know what you think of it.

Maybe adults love this dish better? Cos’ my father like Yam Rice and they used to cook it once every weekend. It looks exactly like yours – except thinly shredded lean meat is used. I was ok with this dish when I was a kid, not a favorite definitely because I was not a fan of “OR” (芋头), then I would pick out all the yam, pass it to my father while I enjoy the fragrant rice. Heee heeee…
But now I am an adult, I believe I can enjoy this dish without being too picky and still…love the fragrance….

Here, we find Yam Rice in some braised duck rice stall but they don’t give so much HO LIAO….:)

my guess is that asian dishes are derivatives of each other :) in cebu, philippines we have sinanduloy, very similar to the yam rice description but we use sweet potatoes instead of yam. varieties include the use of coconut milk together with water or plain water by itself. the biggest difference though is that we don’t include meats as part of the dish. love this one and is worth trying out :)

I love yam rice! Always something I eat when I go home. I’ve never actually cooked it with meat (as the ones I’ve eaten only have dried shrimp), but it’s a good idea. Will have to try adding that in next time.

I was introduced to yam rice back in Penang as well. Had them with Bak Kut Teh, and Yong Tau Foo. I know one of the better place for yam rice is in BM, right?
And there’s one coffee shop in Klang, named Tien Chuan that serves delightful yam rice. But its different than the usual. You must try this if you’re ever in Klang.

I was introduced to yam rice back in Penang as well. Had them with Bak Kut Teh, and Yong Tau Foo. I know one of the better place for yam rice is in BM, right?
And there’s one coffee shop in Klang, named Tien Chuan that serves delightful yam rice. But its different than the usual. You must try this if you’re ever in Klang.

Hi, can you give us the weight of the rice used and the quantity of water (ml)? My rice cooker didn’t come with different size cups. Thanks… looking forward to try this as just so happens I have some yam!

Dear Nyonya Food.
I am so lucky to find your website. Every receipt inside there . they are so great. To-night we will have Yam Rice for dinner. looking forward for that. Thanks so much! Have a good day.

Sounds (and looks) delicious. I must give it a try. I love eating yam as well but have never tried yam rice. I look forward to your yong tau fu recipe too….one of the things I miss from the year I spent in Singapore.

I love yam rice. I would like to suggest a slight variation: I use squash/pumpkin cubes instead of taro, which is difficult to find and expensive in the UK. I stir fry the squash cubes until soft first and set them aside, adding them back into the pot 10 minutes before the rice is fully cooked. The squash adds a sweetness to the rice that I don’t get from yam ^^

I have a question regarding adding water to the rice. After stir-frying the rice with the other ingredients in the wok and transferring everything to the rice cooker, do I need to add anymore water? Do I just start the rice cooker as it is? Thanks.

I tried making this recipe but it didnt really turn out fine. The sauce in the wok tastes fantastic, but the problem starts when I start to cook the rice. The water seems too little to cook that big amount of rice (3 and a half cup). When I transfer the rice and the sauce into the rice cooker, you can barely see the sauce covering the rice, which already seems to me a bit problematic as the usual way of cooking rice is to have water covering the rice.

And in less than 10 min of cooking, the rice cooker switch jumped to ‘keep warm’, with not much sauce left and the rice still very uncooked. I have to keep adding water and it still doesnt cook well. In the end I have to separate the rice into half and add more water to cook it. The flavour has been thinned out so much I have to add more soy sauce to it.

Can you please confirm the amount of rice and water are correct as in recipe? Thanks.

The amount of water is right as I measured my ingredients precisely. The water was above the rice level when I put it into the rice cooker. Your rice might be an old crop that absorbs water faster and requires more water. I use “new crop” rice. Different rice cooker also tends to cook differently…

It is a similar cup I used too that comes with the rice cooker. Is the 2 cup of water from the same cup too? It’s just that from my usual rice-cooking rule, always use at least 1:1 ratio for rice and water. So when I read this recipe that says 3.5:2 rice:water I was a bit sceptical. Not to mention when you add the water to the ingredient in the wok, some water will already be absorbed before the rice is added in. I still think this is a great recipe from the flavour of the sauce, just that next time I will add in much less rice thats just enough to be covered by the sauce.

Just stumble on this cause i want to carry out a research work on yam in malaysia, i’m happy seeing lovely delicacy made with yam in Asian country. you’re doing a good job. The yam rice looks good& the design on your web page is nice. i wish to try it here in Nigeria. thanks you’re doing a great job.

Hi, when i was in Daman Sara Malaysia a couple of years ago i sampled some delicious yam deserts. They were of pastel colours, small rectangular shape, made with yam, they were slightly sweet and chewy. Do you have a recipe for these please?